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"&lt;img alt=\"0704_getty_chely_wright\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/07/04/0704-getty-chely-wright-2.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Country star &lt;strong&gt;Chely Wright&lt;/strong&gt; -- the first gay country singer to come out of the closet -- tells TMZ, she was moved to tears when she read &lt;strong&gt;Frank Ocean&lt;/strong&gt;'s &lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/04/frank-ocean-bisexual-gay-tumblr-love-man/\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;declaration that he's gay&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (or bi), but she says freedom comes at high cost.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;br /&gt;Chely says, \"I can't think of a better way for Frank to celebrate Independence Day.&amp;#160; It's spectular.\"&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;br /&gt;But Chely also says she realizes many country and hip hop artists and fans have an intolerance toward gays, and it certainly has had an impact on her career.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;br /&gt;She says her record sales have dropped to 1/3 of what they were before she revealed in 2010&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/05/02/chely-wright-gay-lesbian-country-singer-coming-out-people-magazine-today-show/\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; that she's a lesbian&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. She also said that a number of venues have made her persona non grata, because they fear fans will boycott her performances.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;br /&gt;Chely also notes that no other country star has come out of the closet since she did, but says both she and Frank are forging a path that will eventually allow people to live their lives openly and without shame.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So we gotta ask ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=\"float: left;\"&gt;&lt;!-- relatedpoll --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/04/chely-wright-frank-ocean-coming-out-gay-bisexual-liberating-career-damaging/?adid=>